Some time ago, while searching for information related to my user name, I happened upon a web site which was available on Google's search engine as a regular web page, and later only partially available as a cached version on Google or part of web archive. After I reported it to a certain eBay watch group it was suddenly removed, but I never heard of anything in the news, but apparently I must have hit a nerve because who might say my eBay account became the target of harassment. Reporting it to the FBI site did nothing.

The address of the site (a user index) was:

http-//www.stanford.edu/~guns 2/~gunstar/cs145

I saved some information from this site in the form of the site's original page's html and various text files.

Here's the html of the site indexes, which I've posted to some temporary web pages on a temporary web site:

http://evilbay.netfirms.com/gunstarindex1.html

http://evilbay.netfirms.com/gunstarindex2.html

If you searched through the site you would some very interesting information pertaining to the harvesting of information on hundreds of auctions, certainly more than your average college student could afford to bid on. Some of files pertained to computer programming, while other listed various user names of friends associated with the person or persons running this site. A few of the links are still present through a web archive if you click the links in the indexes above. Other information I saved to some html and plain text files which are temporary hosted here (I tried posting them on a web page at the same free web host, but it said the files were too big):

http://depositfiles.com/files/3611568
http://depositfiles.com/files/3611574
http://depositfiles.com/files/3611576
http://depositfiles.com/files/3611581
http://depositfiles.com/files/3611587


According to Google Stanford is financially involved with eBay. I've often wondered if eBay might be involved in shilling its own auctions as automated shilling software would make them a lot of money. So the question is what these folks were they trying to do here? And why was all this information posted on the web by these Stanford folk. This seems various suspicious how what appears to be students at a college involved with eBay can have access to auction information.

I ask those with more computer and web programming experience to help determine what is going on here. I maintain copies of all the files on backup files I bothered to make and want to give them to others that will take action. I am not sure how long these files or the temporary web site will be up as no doubt eBay has its usual moles here also so please make copies or suggest some alternative sites where I can post this information. Some of files are large, the item file form this site contains 422 8 1/2 X 11 standard margin pages of auction information alone.

The item file which I saved a copy of contains 422 pages of auction information like this:

1043374545|*|christopher radko | fritz n_ frosty sledding|*|brand new beautiful handmade european blown glass ornament from christopher radko. this particular ornament features a snowman paired with a little girl bundled up in here pale blue coat sledding along on a silver and blue sled filled with packages. the ornament is approximately 5_ tall and 4_ wide. brand new and never displayed, it is in its clear plastic packaging and comes in the signature black radko gift box. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!!!! payment by cashier's check, money order, or personal check. personal checks must clear before shipping. the hold period will be a minimum of 14 days. I ship with UPS and the buyer is responsible for shipping charges. the shipping rate is dependent on both the weight of the package and the distance that package will travel. the minimum shipping/handling charge is $6 and will increase with distance and weight. shipment will occur within 2 to 5 days after the deposit of funds. a $2 surcharge will apply for all USPS shipments if you cannot have or do not want ups service. If you are in need of rush shipping, please let me know and I_will furnish quotes on availability. the BUY-IT-NOW price includes free domestic shipping (international winners and residents of alaska and hawaii receive a credit of like value applied towards their total) and, as an added convenience, you can pay with paypal if you utilize the feature. paypal is not accepted if you win the auction during the course of the regular bidding-I only accept paypal if the buy it now feature is utilized. thank you for your understanding and good luck! Free Honesty Counters powered by Andale! Payment Details See item description and Payment Instructions, or contact seller for more information. Payment Instructions See item description or contact seller for more information.|*||*|0|*|30.00|*|30.00|*||*|Dec-03-01 18:10:40|*|Dec-13-01 18:10:40|*|rulabula
1043397459|*|PM BOY AND GIRL

The bid file contains a large amount of data like this:

1043402767|*|Dec-06-01 06:44:54|*|4.00|*|1|*|goldcoastvideo
1043495702|*|Dec-04-01 23:20:07|*|12.99|*|1|*|nobody138
1043495702|*|Dec-06-01 02:00:07|*|15.99|*||*|danielhb2000
1043495702|*|Dec-07-01 04:40:07|*|18.99|*||*|boncon123
1043495702|*|Dec-08-01 07:20:07|*|22.00|*|1|*|watchdenmark
1043495702|*|Dec-09-01 10:00:07|*|25.00|*|1|*|mrwvh

A user name file contains a large amount of stuff like this:

rulabula|*|1035|*|its a dry heat|*|USA
dollface94|*|221|*|LONG ISLAND USA|*|USA
fallsantiques|*|952|*|MIlwaukee Wi|*|USA
goldcoastvideo|*|2919|*|Los Angeles,CA|*|USA
fallsantiques|*|952|*|MIlwaukee Wi|*|USA
lwm123|*|813|*|Missouri The Show Me State|*|USA
nobody138|*|427|*|GOD BLESS AMERICA, FROM SOUTH, MS|*|USA
danielhb2000|*|1|*|Huntington Beach, Ca.|*|USA
boncon123|*|106|*|Northern Ireland|*|United Kingdom

The parser file contains a bunch of computer programming language like this:

/* CS145 Spring 2002. */ /* Parser skeleton for processing item-???.xml files. Must be compiled in JDK 1.4 or above. */ /* Instructions: This program processes all files passed on the command line (to parse an entire diectory, type "java MyParser myFiles/*.xml" at the shell). At the point noted below, an individual XML file has been parsed into a DOM Document node. You should fill in code to process the node. Java's interface for the Document Object Model (DOM) is in package org.w3c.dom. The documentation is available online at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/docs/api/index.html A tutorial of DOM can be found at: http://java.sun.com/webservices/docs/ea2/tutorial/doc/JAXPDOM.html#67581 Some auxiliary methods have been written for you. You may find them useful. */ import java.io.*; import java.text.*; import java.util.*; import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder; import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory; import javax.xml.parsers.

Another listed some more programming language and appears to list a group of associates user names:

Config {
version 1
}
User {
screenName striderad
profile {
mimeType "text/aolrtf; charset=\"us-ascii\""
dataLength 0
}
}
Login {
authorizer {
hostName login.oscar.aol.com
port 5190
}
useProxy false
proxy {
protocol SOCKS4
hostName
port 1080
dnsLookUp false
}
keepAlive true
reconnect true
displayReconnect true
autoLogin false
}
Privacy {
allowList
blockList
pref BlockSome
}
Buddy {
prefs {
showIdleTime false
disclosureMode 0
loginSound true
logoutSound false
}
list {
Friends {
iamkori
EleKtrA773
tgbraat
tfactor25
behest75
laurennicolesf
"S F babe23"
brandysexxx
trisha650
tscourtesan
transsexual20
karminasf
shashasf
viktorioza
sexyvida4you
sugartransf
sexpottaylor
dearesttaylor
maitaiafterdark
"Hearts in Amour"
pinayts717
milabeauty
catra2000
octavia68iou1
numbervault
ranitease
paul18mc
paulmc18
asianlife05
NathanJHerkemer
tnyboppr
idea313
Ringgoy
belleanima
Amberdaisy22
diddleruno
MEEsCHievous
whitty1213
lonny79
jesse69thebody
CajnHotStk
jessethebody69
bouncymai
child1213
"o9 jericho"
"rix remixed"
at8635074
rbtiger24
sykomaniack
reilena
"Jen CA 79"
Artizun
gracielavasquez {
Alert dialog when_online
}
"Consule Planco"
bioflavonoid313
}
Family ecrutch
Co-Workers
}
}
IM {
font {
windowColor #ffffff
textColor #000000
}
sendSound false
receiveSound false
ringSound true
}

I wouldn't doubt that ebay would stoop to such activity. I checked out iamkori, EleKtrA773, and tgbraat from your list. They appear to be Buyers only. So, you're saying that ebay is letting college students place bids as a study, or what? Buyer tgbraat has 4 feedbacks from seemingly random Sellers indicating that he completed the transactions.

Actually I don't the nick names listed within the one file necessary pertain to actual ebay user names, but to nick names pertaining to allowed users on the server used by the stanford students for whatever they were doing. In other words these are local nicknames of friends and associates involved in the activity. I also checked the names listed here as one of the auctions is associated with one of my ebay accounts. Upon examining the auction I saw that it had unsuccessful bidders whose nicknames did not match any of those listed within the site. I think people clever enough to pull this off would be clever enough not to use the same local log in names as their ebay accounts as they could be more easily traced.

I'd like to have this investigated by a major news source like cnn, fox, or whatever. Anybody figure out what they were up to yet?

This is why eBay should be required by law to file a complete plan of their site's operating system with the government so the government can determine just how fair it is to consumers. Another thing they should do is establish system for former ebay employees, current ebay employees, and the like, to turn in information about ebay's conduct without fear of prosecution in order to nail ebay.

I also checked out elektra773 and it says he joined May 2007, which is after the dates listed in the users index for the dates the files were last modified. Also, since how can anyone trust any information about user account on eBay as eBay can modify user accounts as they want, create fake accounts of people who don't even exist. LOL, if the can't even keep a list of my blocked bidders on their servers and backup servers - or so they claim. eBay has multitude of ways to cover their criminal behavior.

Interesting, but this could also be a trap by eBay. Do not check these accounts using your real ebay account! All eBay has to do to find out who you are is create a new fake account based on the names above and then wait to trace your isp when you look a the account based on your account's isp history.

I've got 12 of their test auctions on my watchlist, so they won't have to go to all that trouble to track me. They just sent me a last minute email reminder to bid

What are they going to do other than suspend my account?

eBay user's agreement listing prohibited activities:

"harvest or otherwise collect information about users, including email addresses, without their consent."

I and the other users whose information is listed on that Stanford site didn't give our permission to Stanford and nor did we give eBay permission to collude with people at Standford either. All my auctions include a copyright notice and my unique user name is a registered copyrighted so just publishing my information alone is a copyright violation and a violation of ebay's tos.

So where's ebay on this - oh wait, they only cover stuff up to keep their stock prices high.


I like this gem fro the tos though:

Unless the buyer and the seller agree otherwise, the buyer will become the item's lawful owner upon physical receipt of the item from the seller, in accordance with California Commercial Code § 2401(2) and Uniform Commercial Code § 2-401(2).

O.K., then what's ebay doing letting the guy i bought from relist the same item i already paid for and sent back. Until I receive a refund, which i never did, the item is legally mine. And what did ebay do with all the written evidence conclusively proving the guy is a thief - nothing. The guy even posted negative feedback saying he sent back the item to me because i stole something out of it - at the same time he he had it relisted - if thats true what's he got my properly on ebay for - he just post feedback it was shipped back a2nd time.